Companies use online magazines to woo consumers.
My attitude is simple: Keep an eye on Procter & Gamble, probably the smartest marketer on earth. According to a recent article in USA Today, P&G has invested heavily in “online magazines,” informational websites that help customers solve problems and only subtly promote products. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-02-online-mags-target_x.htm

“Since its launch about five years ago, P&G’s homemadesimple.com site has grown from 300,000 subscribers for its free monthly e-mail newsletter to a projected 10 million in 2006. It’s among seven sites . . .that combine information aimed at the target markets for its varied consumer products,” says the article.

Here’s the question: Does your intranet site help your employees meet their needs? (If not, how could you make simple changes to make your web site more relevant and useful.)

The 10-second e-mail
Long e-mails just don’t cut it, according to a study by Marketing Sherpa, because recipients spend 10 to 20 seconds at most reading a typical e-mail message or newsletter. And being attractive doesn’t increase the amount of time people spend, but designing for the screen has a big impact on how people view an e-mail. http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3146

Here’s the question: Can employees get the meaning from your e-mails in just the few seconds they spend reading them? (If not, how can you make your e-mails more concise and direct?)